Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Free! Chelsea Manning!

For the first time, in a very long eight years I am actually happy with the man I voted for in 2008. I haven't voted since, but today he made me glad I did. He commuted Chelsea Manning's sentence and she will be free, May 17, 2017!
Hang in there Chelsea!
After two suicide attempts and a hunger strike, her suffering will soon be over. It is a damn shame this travesty went on for so long.
We owe her a debt of gratitude.
The first time I wrote about Chelsea was during the pre-trial hearings, way back in 2012. I wrote about the brutality she was subjected to, It's shameful and disgusting. I can't imagine what she suffered. I wanted to know why George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, et al, weren't standing trial for lying us into an unnecessary military debacle, killing hundreds of thousands as Chelsea Manning's material showed. They will never have to pay the price for opening a Pandora's box of violence and setting the Middle East on fire.
However, Chelsea Manning has paid dearly and as far as I know, no one died as a result of her actions.
There have been to many who lost their lives in a war that never should have happened. Here is a list of what we know, thanks to Chelsea Manning, Egyptian torturers were trained by the FBI, the 2009 US backed coup in Honduras, Oil company Shell "inserted" it's staff into the government of Nigeria, the US spying on the United Nations, that US used Turkey as a base to transport people to extraordinary rendition locations, it goes on and on.
If you read any of Wikileaks and the Chelsea Manning information, you are never the same after reading it. I know I wasn't, especially after watching the "Collateral Murder" video.
This is a bittersweet moment in American history. President Obama did the right thing, but this situation was cruel and unusual as Chelsea Manning had the longest sentence, for which there was no precedent, of 35 years.
I am so thankful that Chelsea's nightmare will soon be over. I know I was deeply affected by what Ms. Manning did, making the information available, starting me on a 5 year blogging journey, that is still ongoing.
Thank you Chelsea Manning and thank you President Obama!